This invention relates to the field of television and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for switching between a television viewing mode and a program guide mode in which video programs and related text are displayed simultaneously on a television screen.
For a number of years television receivers have been equipped with picture-in-picture (PIP) capability. In PIP format, the moving, real time images of one television channel are displayed on the background of the screen and the moving, real time images of another television channel are displayed in a PIP window overlaid on a small area of the background. Because two channels are simultaneously displayed by the television receiver, two tuners are required. The viewer enters the PIP mode by pressing a PIP key of his or her controller. Then, the viewer can change either the channel of the background or the channel of the PIP by resetting the appropriate tuner. To reverse the background and PIP images, the viewer simply presses a SWAP key. To collapse the PIP window, the viewer again presses the PIP key.
Television program guides help television viewers select programs to watch. Such television program guides list the available television programs by day of the week, time of day, channel, and program title. For many years television program guides have been published in hard copy form. More recently, as illustrated by Levine U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,713, television program guides have begun to take an electronic form. In other words, the schedule of program listings is stored in an electronic memory connected to the television receiver. The program listings are recalled from memory by the viewer on command for display on the television screen.
Despite the prevalence of television program guides, many viewers still make their program selections by switching the television tuner from channel to channel and observing on the screen what program is being received on the respective channels. This process is sometimes called xe2x80x9cgrazing.xe2x80x9d
Emanuel U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,019 discloses an automated form of channel grazing. A preselected group of channels are sequentially scanned by switching the tuner of the television receiver from channel to channel. A still image of the program received on each channel is stored in a memory. After all the channels have been scanned, the still images from all the channels are simultaneously displayed on the television screen. This process gives the viewer more information about the program choices in addition to that obtainable from a television program guide, namely, the displayed still images of the actual programs.
The present invention relates to a television system comprising in a guide mode an electronic program guide (EPG) which includes a PIP window for display of real time images and a last channel recall. The last channel recall provides the viewer means for returning from the guide mode to a last channel displayed full screen in a television viewing mode, or last channel full screen (LCF), prior to entering the guide mode. The EPG displays a vertically oriented program list which includes a listing for the LCF, and text identifying it as such. This last channel listing is positioned at the top of a program list area of an all channel guide. The viewer may return directly to the LCF in the television mode by setting a cursor in the all channel guide to the last channel listing immediately prior to exiting the guide mode.
The guide mode may include various types of guides. In guides which include listings for future programs, the last channel listing is positioned at a designated position of the program list area and remains in that position as the viewer scrolls through the other program listings in the program list. Preferably, this designated position is at the bottom of the program list area.
The system provides several options for returning to the LCF from the guide mode: the viewer may cursor to the last channel listing in the program list and then press a GUIDE/TV button; the viewer may designate the LCF as a default channel to which the system automatically tunes when exiting the guide mode; or the viewer may press a LAST CHANNEL button on the remote control unit to control the system to automatically exit the guide mode and simultaneously tune the system to the LCF.
In an alternate embodiment, the system employs two tuners, one for use in the television viewing mode and the other for use by a PIP chip in the guide mode. In the guide mode, the television tuner remains tuned to the LCF. Thus, when the viewer reselects the television viewing mode, the program being telecast on the LCF is displayed full screen.